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The iconic original BART car could have looked very different.

Industrial design firm Sundberg-Ferar, which created the concept and design of the original car, recently unearthed a trove of photographs from the 1960s that show BART in its earliest stages.  Among the images, selections of which we’ve included in this story, are numerous snapshots of early BART prototypes.

“Prototypes are a low-cost, low-risk way to test design ideas,” explained Lynnaea Haggard, Sundberg-Ferar’s Marketing Manager. “They’re the creation of artifacts for stakeholders to react to, which helps figure out what’s working and what’s not working.”

BART contracted Sundberg-Ferar to design cars for its budding mass rail system in the early 60s. By 1964, the firm had hit the ground running, starting with basic concept sketches. From there, Sundberg-Ferar built a series of car prototypes at 1/12th scale. To put that in perspective, the initial prototypes were about 5 3/4 feet long – pintsize compared to the actual cars, which measured 70 feet.

It’s worth briefly turning our attention to the sketching phase. Many of the original BART car concepts were designed by acclaimed visionary designer Syd Mead, who’s largely responsible for creating the look and feel of science fiction classics such as “Star Trek,” “Blade Runner,” and “Tron.”

“I worked on the original design for the BART system train cars. Sundberg-Ferar designed the BART system cars,” Mead said in a 2015 interview before his death in 2019. “I did all of the presentation renderings for that.”

Construction of the full-size prototype. Photo courtesy of Sundberg-Ferar.

In the interview, Mead revealed that in initial discussions, the idea was to have a spare cab (the place where the operator sits) on each end of each line “so when the train would go across the Bay and then it would come back, you wouldn’t have to change the whole train around. You could take the control cabin off the back, install another one on the front and then, and away you go.”

That never came to be because “it’s such an elaborate thing,” Mead said.

After the sketch phase, Sundberg-Ferar began building a variety of small prototypes with wood, using a natural metal finish on the outside to further refine and evaluate the design direction. The firm then constructed quarter-scale models and eventually a full-scale prototype that was delivered to California (Sundberg-Ferar was based in Detroit) on the back of not one, but two, trailers. That model was unveiled officially at BART’s Hayward Test Track in June 1965 – about seven years before the system opened for service.

Representatives speak at the BART car prototype unveiling in June 1965. Photo courtesy of Sundberg-Ferar.

The full-scale model was shipped around the Bay Area, with BART allowing members of the public to walk through and try out the feel of it for themselves.

“The experience of the vehicle was mission critical to adoption,” Haggard said.

Per BART historian Michael Healy’s book, “BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System,” spot surveys suggested that “visitors to the models were, for the most part, very impressed with the cushioned seats, the carpeted floors, and the clean, wide body.” Some people, Healy writes, compared the experience to “being on an airplane, only with picture windows.”

“New standards of attractiveness, efficiency, and comfortableness was the banner flag,” Haggard said. She noted that BART’s design considerations for the project included ensuring the train cars were comfortable, well-lit, temperature-controlled, and as quiet as possible on the tracks. 

Half of the final BART car prototype traveling on a trailer to California in 1965. Photo courtesy of Sundberg-Ferar.

Carl Sundberg, one of the cofounders of Sundberg-Ferar, had a direct hand in the creation of the prototype. His goal: design a train car for the people.

“This was not to be some newfangled train,” Haggard said. “Even though BART was implementing all these new technologies, that didn’t mean the car was going to look like some sort of spaceship.”

In fact, Sundberg wanted the BART car to look like anything but a relic of space travel. He’s quoted as saying, “We are not going to the moon or across the country. It doesn’t have to look like a projectile.”

For that reason, Sundberg didn’t want the public to expect anything streamlined, hence the iconic sloping nose of the cab.

“It had to be an honest design,” Haggard said. “A rapid transit vehicle should look like a rapid transit vehicle.”

Haggard called the project “the opportunity of a lifetime” for Sundberg-Ferar designers, who had the chance to build a mass rail car from the ground up with plenty of creative leeway on BART’s end. At this time, in the mid-1960s, BART was the first mass urban rail transit system built in the US since the early 20th century (The New York City Subway, for instance, opened in 1904).

Sundberg, above all else, wanted to design train cars with people in mind. Though human-centered design is now a well-accepted concept, it was novel at the turn of the century.

“It must be borne in mind that the object being worked on is going to be ridden in, sat upon, looked at, talked into, activated, operated, or in some way used by people individually or en masse,” wrote Henry Dreyfuss, an industrial designer, in November 1950. “If the point of contact between the product and people becomes a point of friction, then the designer has failed. If, on the other hand, people are made safer, more comfortable, more desirous of purchase, more efficient – or just plain happier – by contact with the product, then the designer has succeeded.”

With voices such as Dreyfuss’s painting a backdrop of design thought, Sundberg set out to apply the theory of human-centered design to the BART car.

“This is really the beginning of an era,” said Haggard. “BART is an amazing representation of what was a huge mindset shift in mass transit.”

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BART is going all in on bikes! Beginning January 1, 2024, bikes will be allowed on most of the escalators throughout the BART system to help make it easier for people to bring their bikes on board the train. 

This change was approved by the BART Board of Directors at the request of Director Rebecca Saltzman. The vote authorizes further changes to BART’s bike rules, including allowing bikes on all train cars except the first car (bikes were previously banned from the first three cars during commute times), and allowing bicyclists to secure bikes on the train using the bike lean bar and straps, instead of holding them.  

The bike rules were last changed 10 years ago, when BART ended the ban on bikes on BART during commute hours.  Over the last decade, longer and heavier bicycles, such as e-bikes and cargo bikes, have soared in popularity.

“Carrying bikes up and down stairwells can be difficult and not all bikes fit in our elevators,” said BART Director Rebecca Saltzman. “Updating our rules will make BART easier to use for cyclists and families bringing bikes on the train. Bikes play an important role in getting people out of their cars and on public transit and these updated rules encourage environmentally friendly multimodal travel options.”  

BART encourages riders to use their best judgment when utilizing system escalators and elevators because individual bikes vary in size and weight. 

BART is releasing a new video detailing safety tips for bringing bikes on escalators in the BART system.

See updated Bikes on BART rules here:

*Bikes will remain banned from BART’s ten narrow escalators located at the following three stations: 19th Street Oakland, Antioch and Oakland Airport Connector

Bike + Transit Trips

BART's Trip Planner offers multi-modal, end-to-end itineraries for bike + transit trips. It features customizable bike speed options including an option for e-bikes (select the settings/tool icon to customize your options). BART's Trip Planner includes results for more than 30 transit systems in the Bay Area such as bus service, ferries, cable cars, and regional train systems.

BART's Trip Planner is available on web, mobile, and the official BART app. The BART app also offers station information, including information on secured bike parking.

Elevator Dimension Guide

BART also offers this Elevator Dimension Guide to assist cyclists in navigating BART elevators. It outlines the dimensions of each elevator in the system including measurements of the door, width, length, and diagonal space across the floor. As always, use your best judgment when utilizing system elevators because individual bikes and elevators vary in size. 

2024 was a big year for BART as we continued to enhance the customer experience, improve safety and cleanliness, and invest in the future. 

These are 24 things we're proud of this year. 

1. Thousands joined us at MacArthur Station to mark the end of an era and say farewell to our 51-year-old legacy fleet at the Ride into History, a retirement ceremony and final ride event. Soon thereafter, three legacy cars were delivered to the Western Railway Museum for their forthcoming Rapid Transit History Center.  
2. The Fleet of the Future new train car project came in hundreds of millions of dollars under budget thanks to tight project management, and the final car of the original contract, car #775, was officially certified for passenger service. The project is now entering its second phase.

3. BART broke its post-pandemic ridership record on September 26 with 224,721 exits, the highest ridership day since March of 2020! 
4. Customer satisfaction is now at 83% -- up nearly 10 percentage points compared to the 1st quarter (July to September) of 2023. Customers say train cars are cleaner and the visible safety presence on trains has increased since BART implemented its Safe and Clean Plan.  
5. BART installed Next Generation Fare Gates at 12 stations, with more stations on the way. 
6. The percentage of riders who reported seeing a visible increase in safety presence was between 18% and 20% in 2024 (up from 10% in 2023) as BART Police maintained focus on deploying every available officer to trains and stations. The department also hired more officers than any year since 2019, reducing the January 2024 vacancy total from 29 to 19 as of December 2024. 
7. BART’s limited-income fare discount, Clipper START, increased from 20% to 50% at the beginning of the year, and ridership in the program has more than doubled since 2023. 
8. Bikes are now allowed on nearly all of the escalators in the BART system to make it easier for riders to bring them on trains.  
9. BART completed construction on entrance canopies at Embarcadero, Montgomery St, and Civic Center stations and installed new state-of-the-art street and platform escalators at Embarcadero, Powell, Montgomery St, and Civic Center stations. There are now 14 completed canopies and 16 new escalators at San Francisco stations.  
10. BART replaced three additional miles of worn rail this year, bringing the total amount of replaced rail to 55 miles. Funds for rail replacement come from voter-approved Measure RR, which is being used to rebuild the backbone of the BART system. 
11. BART awarded over half of our contract award dollars to minority- and women-owned businesses this year, and our Office of Civil Rights hosted its first Small Business Summit, which brought over 175 participants to BART Headquarters to connect with opportunities.   

12. BART and Bay Area transit agencies unveiled a new, uniform look for regional transit maps and signage, including local transit and facility maps, diagrams, and bus stop signs. The new designs will make regional transit easier to navigate by delivering information that is clear, predictable, and familiar across service areas and county lines.  
13. Bay Area transit agencies joined forces to sync schedules in a whole new way with a focus on improving transfers between systems and making schedule changes at the same time. There has been a 250% increase in the number of transit agencies changing their schedule concurrently twice each year, and six of seven major transit providers are syncing their schedule changes at least once a year. 
14. Clipper BayPass, the prepaid unlimited-ride transit pass, entered its second phase, meaning employers are now able to purchase the passes for their workers. Total BayPass trips across all operators was 1.6 million (from Jan. 1 – Nov. 30, 2024). BayPass has already begun generating revenue for our agency by increasing ridership! 

15. The Governor signed into law a bill sponsored by BART to modernize its financial operations by merging all functions under a newly created Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position. BART’s first CFO began in December 2024 and has the authority to streamline BART’s financial forecasting, budgeting, and reporting of financial data. The new structure will create greater accountability to realize long-term cost savings and to better navigate the significant funding challenges ahead.  
16. BART leadership implemented recommendations made by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to improve operational efficiencies and enhance contract oversight, ensuring taxpayer money is used appropriately. The OIG also made progress in 2024 on audits aimed at identifying opportunities for BART to control or avoid costs. 
17. Several Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) projects in partnership with BART received major grants, including: 
    1. $25 million for North Berkeley TOD mobility enhancements from the Cycle 7 Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. 
    2. $35 million for North Berkeley TOD on BART property from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program by the California Strategic Council.  
    3. $25 million for El Cerrito Plaza TOD on BART property from AHSC. 
    4. $25 million for an affordable housing near Walnut Creek Station from AHSC.  
18. BART celebrated the groundbreaking of 97 units of affordable TOD housing for seniors on the site of Lake Merritt Station’s old parking lot.  
19. BART secured a $14 million grant from the US Department of Transportation for new electric vehicle charging stations at all BART-managed parking facilities. The charging stations will be available for BART riders as well as community members who live nearby. 
20. BART’s decadeslong Earthquake Safety Program was officially completed following the completion of the internal retrofit of the Transbay Tube – just in time for the iconic bay crossing’s 50th birthday! 
21. BART released the Role in the Region Report, which aims to inform a regional conversation about the future of BART by describing its contributions to the Bay Area. The report was released in tandem with BART Connects, a rider storytelling series that illustrates the different ways BART affects real people’s lives.

22. In 2024, BART hosted a bunch of iconic events, including: 
    1. Project Doneway fashion show, featuring 35 garments constructed out of retired BART paper tickets by fashion students at Oakland School for the Arts, Academy of Art, San Francisco State University, and City College of San Francisco. 
    2. BARTmobile 20th Birthday Party that included face painting, music, carnival games, free cupcakes, and free rides in the BARTmobile (a rare opportunity for the public)! 
    3. BART Night at the Oakland Ballers, a special celebration of community, baseball, and the transit system that takes you to the games! BART partnered with the Ballers on their inaugural season, and the team’s jerseys currently feature our logo. 
    4. Sound Tracks free live music series was held at three different stations and featured three local bands/musicians. 
    5. Ride Into History, a retirement party for BART's legacy train cars that saw thousands celebrate at MacArthur Station and take a final ride on the historic trains.  
    6. BART x Yifang boba cuplseeves collab, which culminated in a popup event at Colma Yifang. 
23. Plus, we hosted some awesome engagement programs: 
    1. BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest, which resulted in 31 winning poems about BART and the Bay Area that you can read in our story dispensers at Balboa Park, Downtown Berkeley, Fruitvale, and Pleasant Hill stations.  
    2. The Autism Transit Project, a national program that invites youth on the spectrum to record station announcements for Autism Acceptance Month. Twenty local young people recorded announcements that played at 35 BART stations. 
    3. Bach in the Subways, a worldwide celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach. More than ten local musicians played Bach at various BART stations. 
24. Last but not least, we launched a Fun Stuff webpage that compiles all the fun stuff we’re doing at BART in one place, including upcoming events and a special section for Rider Guides, which describe how to take transit to local venues in a visual, easy-to-read format.